A Tour with Allen Saxe

If you live around here, you know the name Allen Saxe. You may not have ever met him in person, but you have surely driven by many parks, stadiums, etc. that had the name Allen Saxe on them. Well, here he is. He was the official 'tour guide' of our Junior League tour of the city today. He is very knowledgeable and quite witty all at the same time. Not only is he a university professor and author, but he is a phenomenal philanthropist and volunteer.

Here are some facts about this little city we live in that I did not know before:

• Arlington was first known for gambling. Specifically, the scandalous Top of the Hill Club, in which underground tunnels, paid off politicians and a brothel were an integral part of the Club back in the day before Las Vegas was Las Vegas. Even more interesting, Arlington Baptist College now resides where the Top of the Hill Club once did.
• Lake Arlington was built to be a water source for the GM plant that here in town. When they dug out the lake, it filled in a miraculous 30 days. They aptly named it the "Miracle Lake" for a while.
• Many voters did not want a Lake Arlington to be built, because they did not want the growth that would naturally follow the building of the lake.
• UT Arlington had 8 different names before it settled on the current one.
• A mayor of Dallas was once quoted as saying that Arlington was, "A junior college surrounded by used car lots."
• UT Arlington is the only campus in Texas to have a cemetery on its premises.
• The Six Flags amusement park here in Arlington was the first Six Flags Park in the nation. And it was built to temporarily spur commercial and financial growth in the area.
• The hottest political voting items in Arlington's history were: whether to build a lake, the Ranger Stadium and the Dallas Cowboy Stadium. (They all passed.)

* Me and Mary (the sustainer)*
* Me and Mary (the provisional) *